Conventionally, air massage devices are known which supply air to and exhaust air from an airbag through intermittent driving of an air supply and exhaust device to implement rubbing, pounding, and other types of massage motions to treatment regions of a human body.
In recent years, air massage machines which provide changes to the massage and are designed so as to be capable of providing a massage that approximates the motion of human hands have been proposed.
The air massage machine is provided with a controller for setting a massage pressure and/or a massage time for each of a plurality of airbags to desired values, and is configured so as to be capable of providing a massage which is similar to hand massaging by optionally setting the massage pressure and/or massage time for each of the plurality of airbags.
When attention is focused on each of the plurality of airbags provided for this type of air massage machine, it is clear that when an air pump is driven or the like to supply air to each of the airbags, air is supplied at a constant air supply amount per unit time (in other words, at a constant air supply speed) until the internal pressure (massage pressure) of the airbag reaches a prescribed pressure setting P1.
However, as with the air massage machine, even if air is supplied to the airbags at a constant air supply amount per unit time, the airbags are only able to obtain a prescribed pressing force, or a pressing force that increases at a certain rate of increase, and even if this type of airbag is pressed against the treatment regions of a person to be treated, the change in the manner that the airbag presses against the treatment regions is meager, and there is a concern that the massage could feel like monotonous mechanical pressing.
In other words, changes in pressing force with abundant degrees of strength as experienced with the massaging actions performed by human hands are not obtained, and there is a concern that such machines could bring about boredom with massages, and that a satisfying massage feeling cannot be obtained.
Therefore, further examination was necessary in order to enable users to experience a sense of massage that provides changes in degrees of strength that resemble those of a massage performed by human hands when treatment regions are pressed by air pressure.